This can’t be the same cat. It freaks me out a little that I think it might be. I think back on all the times I’ve seen it, miles apart, and in places it really shouldn’t be. I’m at a point where nothing would surprise me anymore, though. Maybe the rotting bastard has been using the damned thing as some kind of spy.
I’m jarred from my musings by Paco’s attempt to appeal to me.
“I know you think I’m insufferably evil, Veronica dear, but you must know that I am just a simple selfish man. I see the evidence of what is coming. Likely more than your Lucy, who I know warned you about it. There is a coming storm, and I intend to build up my assets and weather it. I will come out on top if I can.”
He looks at me and for a moment I think he’s trying to raise his eyebrows for effect, but it’s hard to tell with that face.
“Something larger than all of us is in play, my pet, and I will be ready for it. Something never seen before in this world, but a great evil that was foretold. It‘s already been born into our world, and its power is growing. Its effects are felt by everyone, even the living. Most just have no clue what it is they are feeling. I know. I know its power. I will be strong enough to be a worthy servant to it, or powerful enough to enslave it; either way I will survive. You should rejoice, because as my slave you will survive as well.”
Paco looks again at the black creatures in the room and two of them take Rachel and leave, with her crying and screaming. My heart aches to watch it. Death might be too good for Paco; I might have to see how long I can torture him before he dies.
“I’d let you spend more time with her, but she has to be prepared for her part as the sacrifice. You see I had Julie, with one of my servants in her, go back to your Jefferson House and retrieve Rachel’s body before she set fire to it.”
I can see the pain in her eyes. I can feel it.
“Sending my spirits to kill her was easy enough, but then tracking down what happened to her spirit, that proved a bit more difficult. You can imagine my joy at finding she was with you. It made everything so convenient. Even if you did make me play hide and seek with her body.”
He opens the box that contains her remains and places her corpse in the circle of bones he’s arranged on the floor.
“My favorite part about working out of a funeral home is that there’s no shortage of freshly dead spirits to feed my unquiet minions. But even in the freshly dead, whose bodies are here and easily accessible, it’s a rare thing to find a truly pure and innocent soul, a soul like Rachel’s.”
His smile, with the broken jagged teeth and the rotted flesh hanging at odd angles is grotesque. Since he’s had me as his slave I’ve seen far too much of it. I can only look forward to removing it permanently as soon as I have use of my body again. Julie feels the same way.
Then I realize I can feel her. I can feel Lucy and Garrett too. Paco’s collar hasn’t changed that. Now I have to wonder if I can use this to communicate with them.
“It’s going to be painful for her, poor girl. I’m going to force her innocent little soul back into her corpse, and make it live again. Like me.”
Just the idea of him doing that to anyone makes me ill, but doing it to Rachel? I want to scream ‘not her.’ I want to force him not to, or beg him not to. Anything to spare her that.
“Once I have her back all bodied up, then I can kill her. Sacrifice her to double my energy, my power. It’s gonna be great. And fun too.”
His minions take Lucy, Julie and Garrett back to the room I came in through, as Paco sets bottles and other small containers from a bag to the table top for ease of access. He’s lost for a few minutes readying his magical provisions and I expand my mind as far as I can in this place. I can tell that his minions only took Julie into the next room and left her there with the others. Baby steps, I guess.
When he’s finished his task he picks up my leash and leads me into the next room as well, but it’s lighter in here, and even though I know they’re in here, I can’t feel them.
“It’ll take a while for them to fully strip down Rachel’s soul for the ritual. A lot of pain, suffering, torture, you know the stuff don’t you? You told me once you were good at that kind of thing.”
He’s right. I am good at it. I plan on showing him exactly how good, as soon as I can.
CHAPTER 23
THE CALM NIGHT AIR OUTSIDE the Sikes Funeral Home starts to turn breezy. Only a few small gusts at first, then stronger ones. It builds in mere moments, more and more violently, whipping and howling around the façade. Windows rattle, and the building groans against the sudden gale.
There’s a brief flash of lightning followed by the deep low growl of thunder; like some massive creature dragging itself across the landscape.
The wooden double doors tremble then shake slightly. Once, then twice. A final vicious shudder and they are simply gone, replaced by a shower of glass, metal, and wood debris.
The delicate twelve-year old form of a girl in a plaid skirt and tied up white shirt comes into focus in the hole where the entrance had been. Her dark red-black pigtails bounce slightly as her oversized tanker boots crunch into the clutter.
She walks down the hall and stops in front of the door to the main parlor. She looks back and gets a nod from her team that stands ready just outside the gaping hole in the front of the building.
She raises her hand and smiles wickedly as another door shatters in front of her, blowing pieces of wood and metal everywhere.
***
“I believe you have something that belongs to me!” The little girl announces in her most sickly-sweet feminine voice, as she steps into the parlor with a few dozen men in black tactical armor and riot gear filing in behind her. “And I want him back!”
The air is thick, humid, and still. The schoolgirl and her assault team stand motionless as countless shadows swirl in around their master. Paco slowly turns to face the intruders as dozens of metallic clinks advise that weapons are ready to fire. “Do you seriously think bullets mean anything to me, child?” he sneers at her with confidence and contempt. “I’m well beyond any danger those things could pose.”
She can’t help a slight grin as she tosses her head to one side. Her chiding voice is an overdose of saccharine. “Do I look slow to you? You really think I’d come knocking on your door if I wasn’t ready to throw down? They’re spectrally cursed rounds, you arrogant fuck-bag.”
He has only a second to process what she’s said and grow slightly wide-eyed before the muzzle flashes begin. Instantly the room is awash with the screams of spirits in torment. She leaps toward me, her wiry frame tackling me to the floor.
Paco’s jaw distends releasing an inhuman scream as he rips the flesh from his hands. The rotting undead sorcerer points boney fingers at those who dared intrude as dark energies surge from him, flash-decaying those foolish enough not to dive for cover.
The child’s small hands strain against the collar, that holds me docile and in place, with more force than the Jaws of Life. Finally it snaps, releasing energy like a bomb, knocking her and I both back several feet. Then it all becomes real. Like suddenly realizing you are actually inside the movie you’re watching, knowing that you can affect your surroundings.
She shoves a pistol and a pair of goggles at me from her backpack. “I’m Sunny, Garrett’s kid. I don’t have time to deal with you right now. Put these on, they let you see the spirit world. Use the gun. Shoot the shackles off Garrett and the others. And hurry, we don’t have much time.”
As I slide the goggles down over my eyes the last thing I see is Sunny launching herself onto Paco, screaming and firing a pistol.
I’m not prepared for the limited vision the goggles allow. What I can see is all too familiar, the spirits, allies and enemies, but nothing else. I can’t see the real world with them on. I try to run to Garrett and the others only to fall flat on my face tripping over something I couldn’t see. There’s nothing like a good broken nose to make any night better though, so I grit my teeth and deci
de to crawl the remaining fifteen feet to free those I care for.
I can hear the screams and the gunfire in the real world, and see the spirit warriors around me reacting to the bullets, but I’m trying to remain focused only on the task at hand. Aiming and firing, I’m impressed by the power of the weapon she gave me. It has a hell of a kick, but it pops the chains holding Garrett’s shackles with just one shot.
I slowly repeat the process for Lucy and Julie, taking time to aim carefully. I don’t want to remove part of them. Once I’m finished, I lift the goggles to see the world around me.
Paco is unconscious on the floor, but Sunny is being batted around in the air like I was at the hands of these shadow monsters. She’s got some kind of blue glowing energy around her that’s keeping them from doing any serious damage to her, but it seems to be taking all her concentration just to keep up with the raw amount of force they are hitting her with.
Her team, out of ammo, are mostly dead now, their ripped and broken bodies littering the floor. A few dozen more shadows are rushing into the room from below, and as though that weren’t bad enough the sun is coming up soon; I can feel it. There’s no way she and I are going to get back out of here.
“Lucy, get them to Jules!” I yell just before being knocked backward by a dark transparent fist.
Lucy takes off dragging Garrett and Julie and I put my hand up to the goggles on my head. One lens is broken, but the other is intact. I’ve got them and whatever’s left in this pistol. I guess I can still do something productive.
I set my sights on Paco. He’s not moving, and I’m pretty sure I can kill him here and now with what I have left. Out of the corner of my eye I can see the reinforcements that arrived splitting up to pursue Lucy and my friends, and attack Sunny and I.
Now comes the choice. I can kill the creature responsible for this, or I can try to make sure that those I care about get away and buy Sunny and I some more time.
These are the moments where I really wish someone else could tell me the right thing to do. My vengeance on Paco would be sweet, but I can’t let everyone else die with him.
Taking aim I squeeze the trigger and grin, as one of those black things’ head explodes in a shower of what looks like burning embers. With its head gone its body dissipates. I like these rounds.
They drop Sunny and let Lucy get the others out as they begin to encircle me. They may be a little primitive, but they know I can’t kill them all. This is going to hurt, and I may well regret it.
I grab Sunny and pull her toward the door. She’s shaken up from being beaten around like a cat toy, but she’s regaining her focus.
“The sun is coming up. I got Lucy to get Garrett out of here, but I’m pretty sure we’re screwed. I don’t know how many shots I’ve got left.”
I’m talking to her, but she’s looking past me over my shoulder. I spin around expecting to get hit from behind and see, through the transparent shadows behind me, Jules in the hallway with Frank. Frank looks like nothing was ever wrong with him. I’m completely stunned to see them both.
Jules leaps forward into the room with a sword and begins cleaving into the shadows. They shriek and draw back away from him.
“Rather than stay here and be screwed, how ‘bout you come with us?” Frank says as he holds his hand out to help me up. “Nice look by the way. Really shows your roots.”
I take his hand and look down at myself. What’s left of my rubber and plastic outfit leave very little to the imagination. I guess I don’t have to worry about cleaning it off after all.
Wading further into the ever darkening room Jules, continues to slice and thrust into the roiling black mass. I never even knew he could use a sword, let alone fight like a samurai warrior. It’s like a seventies kung-fu movie gone wrong.
I help Sunny to her feet and she asks, “These your friends, then?”
“Yeah.” I answer her but I’m beaming at Jules. He said he’d come for me.
“Get moving,” Jules yells at us as he starts backing toward us, another wave of shadows advancing on him. “Before they box us in again!”
We back up into the hallway and as Jules gets closer to us I can’t help but ask, “How does that thing affect them?”
“Serena gave me the sword. It has some kind of blessing on it that lets it do harm to spirits.”
I couldn’t be more pleased at the results he was having with it, but still I couldn’t stifle a laugh at the absurdity of it all. “A sword though? Who uses a sword?”
“Evidently, people who save your life. Hello?” Frank calls back to me, as he and Sunny begin to run for the gaping hole into the parking lot.
We all sprint out into the predawn light with dozens of those shadows on our heels. My Charger is there. Jules must have driven though because it’s parked on the sidewalk.
As we pile into the car it’s being rocked by the ‘unquiet’ bulldozers. They manage to spin the whole car around before Frank can get it started, and drop it into gear.
A thick trail of rubber and a cloud of smoke sit behind us as we finally put some distance between us and that awful place. But we left Rachel. That means that no matter what, I’m going back.
Sunny pipes up, shooting me a dirty look I’m not completely sure I understand. “Head to the Mason’s hall on Seventh. It’s our place.”
She directs us around to the back and opens a large garage door hidden behind some wooden planks.
As we’re pulling in I see Lucy and Julie standing outside. I slide the single lens down over my right eye again and am enraptured to see Garrett with them too.
Sunny waves to them and they walk in as I watch the first rays of the sun sweep across the city as the door closes. I don’t think I’ve had so many close calls so close together in all my life. Jules must be my good luck charm.
“We’ll be safe here for now. Spirits can’t enter here unless I let them,” Sunny says as she gets out of the car. “Is Garrett with them?”
“How do you do that?”
“It’s just something I can do. You accomplish things with your crotch, I do it through sheer force of will. Is Garret with them?” Her voice is sharper than a razor’s edge.
“Yes, he’s with them.”
“That’s good, for your sake.” She walks to the back of the room and opens a door to a staircase. “C’mon down. It’s safer, and we all need some rest.”
CHAPTER 24
MY RIGHT EYE IS IN LOVE. I can see him again. Now if only I could see him with both eyes. Hold him, feel him. We sit opposite each other in the basement of the Mason’s hall with our hands out to each other, but we can’t touch.
His hand passes though mine making my flesh cold and the hairs on my arm stand up. This is torture, to have him safe and with me but be unable to touch him.
I’m tired and I know I should sleep, but he’s here, and I just can’t stop looking at him.
“Look, bitch, you can stare at him all day long but it’s not gonna make him solid again,” Sunny says as she walks into the room.
That little girl needs to watch her mouth. She hates me. She blames me for what ‘I’ve done’ to Garrett.
Her emotions are all over the place, and she’s as easy to read as a breather. I know her thoughts with little more than glancing at her.
“I know that it’s not going to help bring him back to this side, but I just want to be near him. Just back off.” I try not to let any of my venom from the last night seep into my voice. She’s already ready to pop, and I don’t want to hurt her.
“I want to be near him too, I’m not some new whore who’s decided to sink her white trash nails into his exposed flesh. I’ve been with him for years.”
“White trash? Really? Look, neither of us can really be near him while he’s stuck like this, we need to…”
“Stuck like that? Why is it he’s stuck like that? Because he was listening to you, bitch?”
I have had just about enough of her. She’s in pain, I get that. I am too, but I’m done wi
th the attacks and the disrespect.
“Okay, I’m done with this. I can see you have Daddy issues. Believe me, little girl, I get that.” It’s not difficult at all to slide into her mind and force her to sit down while I talk. “But I’m older, and I’ve been at it a lot longer than you, so if you don’t have anything productive to say, shut your mouth. If you have anything you know of that can help the situation, I’m prepared to listen.”
The hate flowing off of her is almost thick enough to have substance. Her glare burns hot enough to light me on fire, but she says nothing.
“Well?”
“I’ve been trying to find a way to fix him. I was actually coming in here to find him, so I could ask him to join me in my room. I wanted to try a couple things that might work. I’m just not used to dealing with the particular brand of magic that this zombie thing is throwing around. It’s gonna take some time to figure out how to work around it.”
Finally, she really speaks. Now I know what I’m dealing with, at least on that front.
“I’ll leave you to it then. If there’s any way I can help, just let me know.”
Her contempt for me swells. She’s insulted that I even think I could be of help to her. That’s a fight that we don’t have time to have, so I just nod and walk out of the room.
The sooner she can get Garrett back to normal, and we can come up with a plan, the better. We have to stop Paco and get Rachel back. Whatever he’s doing now, it centers around him sacrificing her. I can’t let that happen.
Jules and Frank catch me in the hallway and pull me into a room full of storage lockers.
“We need to talk privately.” It’s Jules’ way of telling me that anything else I was doing can wait. Right now, I’m more than okay with that.
Jules and I walk to the back of the room and face each other while Frank darts back and forth around the sides of the room making sure we’re alone and not being eavesdropped upon. He’s never adjusted to the fact that my kind can usually tell if there’s something like that happening.